THE REDEMPTION OF THE CREATION

Because of the sin of Adam and Eve the material creation was placed by the Lord under
the bondage of corruption. But the Lord has bound the creation in corruption and futility
in the hope that one day He may find the physical creation worthy to be released into the
glorious liberty of eternal life. The Scripture teaches that all of the material realm,
including its inhabitants that God deems worthy of salvation, together with the elect of
the spirit realm, will be made one Kingdom in the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE REDEMPTION OF THE CREATION

For the creature
[creation] was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature [creation]
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of
the children of God. (Romans 8:20,2)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In both the Old Testament and
the New Testament the term heaven is used to indicate the material heaven, the
firmament, the sky, and also the holy area of the spirit realm—the Throne of God
Almighty.

In the Old Testament the same Hebrew word is used for the sky and for the place of the
Throne of God. In the New Testament the same Greek term is used for the sky and for the
place of the Throne of God.

We understand that the "heavens" that were created "in the
beginning" were the physical heavens, the firmament, not the spiritual Heaven. The
material heavens, the firmament, are part of the material creation. In the material
heavens were placed the sun, the moon, and the stars. All of these are part of the
"creation," of Romans 8:20,21. The creation includes also the waters below and
above the heavens, the earth and its vegetation, animals, man, the wind, and all other
things. The creation consists of the things described in the first chapter of the
Book of Genesis.

The creation is made up of things that can be perceived by the human senses, as
distinguished from the spirit realm of God and the angels that cannot be perceived by the
human senses.

We are using the term "creation" to refer to the things the eternal God spoke
into existence through the Lord Jesus at the time of the beginning of the world. As we are
using the term, the creation does not include angels, cherubim, seraphim, or other
creatures of the spirit realm. While they are created beings we do not believe they are
mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis. Therefore they are not included in the
deliverance announced in Romans 8:21, although all created beings that are saved, both in
the material realm and the spirit realm, will finally have their center and circumference
in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because of the sin of Adam and Eve the physical creation was placed by the Lord under
the bondage of corruption. But the Lord has bound the creation in corruption in the hope
that one day He may find it worthy to be released into the liberty of the glory of the
children of God.

The Scripture teaches that all of the material realm that God deems worthy of salvation
together with the elect of the spirit realm will be made one Kingdom in the Lord Jesus
Christ.

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
(Ephesians 1:10)

Whom
[Jesus] the heaven must receive until the times of restitution [restoration]
of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world
began. (Acts 3:21)

We are not teaching that every human being, or Satan and his demons, ultimately will be
saved. Such is not the case. It is not the restoration of all things that will take place
but the restoration of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy
prophets. The holy prophets did not state that all people would be saved or that Satan
and his angels would be saved.

The program of redemption is directed toward the rule of Christ-filled people over the
material creation. Originally the Spirit of Christ filled the creation. Then, because of
the rebellion of Adam and Eve, the Spirit of God withdrew from the creation, including the
bodies of people. The spirit of futility, corruption, and death invaded the material
creation.

Redemption is the restoration to the original owner of what has been taken from him by
forfeiture, trickery, or force. The creation was given to man in the beginning. It has
been taken from him by the trickery of Satan. Through the grace of God in Christ the
material creation will be restored to man. This is the meaning of salvation and is the
theme of the Scriptures.

We have stated that originally the Spirit of Christ filled the creation. If this were
not the case the creation would have been born dead. For as the physical body without its
spirit is dead, so the material creation without the Life of the Spirit of God is dead. In
the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal Life; and that Life is the Light, and the only light,
that is able to light each individual who is born into the world.

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." What was the source
of the light? At that time there was no sun, no moon, no stars. What, then, was the source
of the light described in Genesis 1:3? How could there have been an evening and a morning
for three days before the sun, moon, and stars were created?

The "light" of Genesis 1:3 was Christ, just as He will be the Light of the
new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:23).

The garden of Eden was located on the material earth—the earth on which we walk
today. From our earth grew the tree of life. To eat of the fruit of the tree of life
causes the body of the eater to live forever. Here is another example of the Presence of
the Life of Christ in the original creation; for it is only the eating of Christ that can
give us eternal life.

It appears that God Himself was accustomed to walking in the garden in the cool of the
day.

But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, all this changed. The Presence of God in Christ
withdrew from the creation. The Father and the Son separated Themselves from what They had
created. The creation became filled with futility, corruption, and death. Men began to
call on the name of a Lord who no longer was willing to dwell with them.

Some time later, in the history of a dead mankind attempting to survive in a dead
creation, a person named Abraham obeyed God under extremely difficult conditions. As a
result, the promise of redemption was given: "And in thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 22:18).

Abraham's descendants, the Hebrew Prophets, being anointed by the Spirit of God,
proclaimed the redemption of the material creation:

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
(Numbers 14:21)

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the
waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)

The Prophets speak clearly and repeatedly that the Lord God of Heaven shall redeem the
material creation: He shall cast out the spirit of futility, corruption, and death and
shall fill all things with the eternal Life that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the price of such redemption must be paid. It was necessary that the blood of
Christ be offered on the cross as the payment for the redemption of the creation. From
God's point of view the blood of Jesus is payment in full. Satan has lost all his
authority over the creation. Christ now owns the material creation and He can do with it
as He will.

As thou hast given him power [authority]
over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John 17:2)

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. (Matthew 28:18)

We understand, therefore, that the Lord Jesus now owns the entire material creation
including all persons therein. Also, He is supreme Lord in the spirit realm.

As the Father directs Him, Jesus issues eternal life to human beings. This is the
regeneration, the redemption of the material creation.

The inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ is the material creation. Jesus created all
things and then had to die to redeem His lawful inheritance.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen
[nations] for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (Psalms 2:8)

The nations and the farthest reaches of the earth are "things." They can be
perceived by the senses of human beings. They are the creation that is to be redeemed, to
be brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

The Lord Jesus, because He is the Son of Man (for to man has been given dominion
over all the works of God's hands—Hebrews 2:6-8), has received as an inheritance the
entire material creation. The saints, the members of His Body, are coheirs with Him of the
material creation.

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)

The above verse is in context with Paul's statement that at the revealing of the sons
of God the creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and brought into the
freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Many bodies of the sleeping saints arose because of the overflow of power that raised
the Lord Jesus from the dead (Matthew 27:52,53). When the Lord released Paul and Silas He
released the other prisoners along with them: "immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed" (Acts 16:26). In like manner, when the Life that
Christ will place in His saints is brought to the full the glory will flow to the entire
creation. Then will the creation be released from its chains and once again sing and dance
for joy.

Whoever will choose to come is invited to the marriage of the Lamb, to drink of the
water of life without charge. It is a time of the greatest rejoicing.

And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever
the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish,
because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall
live whither the river cometh. (Ezekiel 47:9)

The Son of God and His brothers will inherit the material creation. They will inherit
all things—all that God created in the beginning and has made new in Christ.

As we have stated, Jesus has inherited all things and has all authority to execute
judgment, not because He is the Son of God (which indeed He is) but because He is the Son
of Man. The physical creation has by the unchanging Scriptures been assigned to man.

Speaking of man:

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in
subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet
all things put under him. But we see Jesus, . . . . (Hebrews 2:8,9)

Christ and His coheirs will govern the material creation. Being man, God has
given it to them as their inheritance.

Christ, the Lord, has overcome every temptation placed in His path. Now the coheirs
through the enabling virtue of His Presence also must overcome the love of the world, the
lusts of Satan, and self-willed rebellion against God's will.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my
son. (Revelation 21:7)

Through Christ the saints are the owners of the creation of God.

Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things
present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. (I
Corinthians 3:22,23)

The glorified, Spirit-filled saints will bring eternal life into the creation of God.
This is the coming of the Kingdom of God, the rule of God, into the earth.

The Kingdom of God is the "new creation" brought into being when the Life of
Christ is introduced into the things that had been dead.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; (II Corinthians 5:17,18)

The Kingdom of God is the making of all things new, not the making of different things.
The form of the material creation is the form that is to be for eternity. People still
will be people. Animals still will be animals. Trees still will be trees. The old things
will pass away and the new things will be brought into being; but the new things will be
the old made new, although the forms will be marvelously glorified.

When God created the sky and the earth, and people and nature on the earth, they are
what God envisioned for eternity. Although the earth and the sky that now are will pass
away, God once again will make a sky and an earth. There will be nations of saved people
on the earth and they will be ruled for eternity by the kings and priests whom God is
forming now. The rulers of the world to come are God's elect from every nation—those
whom God has predestined to be changed into the image of His beloved Son.

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
(Revelation 5:10)

Those in Heaven now are looking forward to the day when they will "reign on the
earth." Our stay in Heaven will be a waiting period while God is preparing the
creation for its redemption.

The new creation, the making of all things new, is being developed in the elect in the
present hour. The saints (holy ones) are a firstfruits of the new creation, and they have
the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit that one day will fill the creation, as
it apparently did in the beginning.

The making of all things new is taking place now in our inner man. The old adamic
nature is passing away and the new Christ Nature is taking its place. The new inner man in
us is of God, although it still is we ourselves. The old passes away, yet somehow the old
is contained—although now of God and filled with God—in the new.

But what about our mortal body. Will it too be redeemed?

Paul reveals that the redemption of the material creation, having begun in our inner
man, soon will be extended into our body.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also make alive [make alive] your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)

The making alive of the mortal bodies of the saints, which is the resurrection from the
dead, the resurrection to eternal life, is the destruction of the last enemy—physical
death. The redemption of the bodies of the saints will signal the beginning of the
redemption of the material creation.

Still speaking in the context of the redemption of the creation, Paul states:

And not only they [the whole creation], but ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)

The Spirit of God whom we have now will, at the coming of Christ from Heaven, flow into
our mortal bodies and then on and out to the remainder of the creation. We possess the
"firstfruits" (after the Lord Jesus) indicating that what we have is the
representative beginning, the "guarantee" of the Glory of God destined to cover
the whole earth.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory. (I Corinthians 15:54)

For we that are in this tabernacle
[mortal body] do groan, being burdened: not
for that we would be unclothed [die physically], but clothed upon, that mortality might be
swallowed up of life (II Corinthians 5:4).

The preceding passages are announcing our physical redemption. They are speaking of
what will take place in us at the coming of the Lord from Heaven. "We shall be
changed" at the last trumpet (I Corinthians 15:51).

Notice carefully that it is not the inner man but the outer man that is changed at the
resurrection from the dead. One of the errors of current Christian thinking is that our
corrupt moral nature will be changed when we die or at the appearing of the Lord. There is
no basis in the Scriptures for this. It is our mortality, our material form, the physical
creation, that will be made new at the coming of the Lord from Heaven. The inner man is to
be transformed now as we obey the Holy Spirit in the work of sanctification.

Unnumbered multitudes of believers are passing into eternity under the mistaken
impression that Jesus will wave a wand and they will be transformed from lukewarm,
careless, spiritually lazy worldlings into majestic patriarchs who will govern the nations
with a rod of iron. This is incorrect.

The coming change is not in our inner moral nature but in the physical creation, which
is our body. Our flesh-and-bones body will be redeemed.

Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath
not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. (Luke 24:39)

If God has given to the saints the entire material creation, beginning with their own
bodies, and if the price of such redemption was paid in its entirety by the shedding of
the blood of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary, why, then, are we not able to go
forth and drive Satan and his demons out of every person in every nation on the face of
the earth? Why should we permit the peoples of the earth to suffer in the chains of
demonic oppression?

The price of earth's redemption indeed has been paid in full but Satan is retaining his
possession of the material creation by lies. He is not willing to leave even though the
price of redemption has been paid.

How can we go about redeeming the creation today? We understand that when Jesus
returns, the creation will be released into the freedom of the glory of the children of
God. But the Scriptures teach also that today is the day of salvation, of
deliverance, of redemption.

Christ is waiting at the right hand of the Father until His enemies have been made His
footstool. How do we put His enemies under His feet and bring into the present world the
redeeming power and glory of the age to come? How do we become Joshuas and Calebs?

Our main purpose today is to bear witness of the glory to come. The fullness of
redemption, the Kingdom of God, cannot come until the Lord appears from Heaven. Yet, we
can bring to people the redeeming power of Jesus if we are willing to pay the price for
their deliverance. Paul teaches us concerning the price that must be paid if we would
bring the glory of the age to come into the world of today.

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in
despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body. (II Corinthians 4:8-10)

It is as we are willing to share in the sufferings of Christ, the suffering of the
cross, that we can receive on behalf of others the redeeming glory that always follows the
suffering of the cross.

It is not permitted to us to go forth in our own wisdom and strength to redeem the
material creation. God will not give His Glory to another person. In order for us to
receive the redeeming glory we must become one with God, and that oneness can be
accomplished only as we are willing to share in the sufferings of Christ.

A movement has arisen in Christian circles that would force Christian moral standards
on the civil governments of the world. There is a spirit of rage in the proponents of the
"Reconstruction Movement." It is not of the Lord Jesus.

The result of the actions of these modern-day Zealots will be fiery persecution of all
Christians, for the Reconstructionists will not be able to fulfill their objectives. God
is not leading them. The "man with the sword in his hand," the commander of the
warrior angels, is not marching with them.

When God is looking for a vessel to bear His Glory He seeks out an individual who is
spiritually alive, who is serving the Lord with diligence. God starts with a
"living" saint.

Then the Lord slashes and prunes and pares until the love of the world, the love of
sin, and (especially) the love of self are driven from His chosen. Such purging and
refining includes instruction, experience, patience, and pain. The saints always enter the
Kingdom of God through many tribulations.

For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (II Corinthians 4:11)

If we are willing to accept in our personality the sufferings of Christ, the
redeeming Life of Christ will flow from us to the peoples of the earth, beginning with the
weaker members of the Body of Christ.

God will not work in any other manner. If redeeming Life is to come, some individuals
must through suffering become one with Christ in God.

So then death worketh in us, but life in you. (II Corinthians 4:12)

The land of Canaan, the land of promise of the Jews, typifies the goal of the Divine
redemption. The goal of the Divine redemption is the casting out of Satan and his hordes
from the material creation, from the things God has created, and the entrance of the
eternal rule and Life of Christ into those things.

Redemption includes both the casting out of Satan and the entrance of the rule and Life
of Christ. Both the casting out and the entrance of the rule and the Life are aspects of
the Divine redemption, one being the negative aspect and the other being the positive
aspect. They must go together.

It is not God's will merely to set the creation free but to fill it with the government
and Life of Christ. The "rest" of God (Hebrews 4:1) comes into being when the
material realm is filled with the government and Life of Christ.

How will the redemption of the creation be carried out? The redemption of the creation
will be carried out as God gives His authority and power through the Lord Jesus to an army
of perfected saints.

. . . a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be
any more after it, even to the years of many generations. (Joel 2:2)

A large and powerful army of holy people shall march through the earth at the appearing
of the Lord.

. . . when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. (Habakkuk
3:16)

The saints have not been perfected in the Lord as yet, and so the current efforts to
impose Christian standards on secular society are premature and will result in chaos for
all concerned.

The saints, the sons of God, must endure the perfecting processes of the Lord Jesus.
They must overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, by maintaining through the Holy
Spirit their testimony to the Person, ways, will, and eternal purpose of God, and by
loving not their lives to the death.

They must "come out of Egypt," which is to say they must not be part of the
spirit and works of the present age. They must cooperate with the Spirit in the cleansing
of their personalities. Finally they must pass through "Jordan," that is, they
must die to their own self-will and self-seeking. Until these three deaths occur in their
personalities the saints cannot be used of God to redeem the creation. It is only as the
disciples conquer in the three areas that they become "a great people and a
strong."

The occupying of Canaan, the land of promise, represents resurrection—the entrance
of incorruptible resurrection life into the formerly dead material creation.

The members of Joel's army, those who will restore "what the palmerworm and the
locust have destroyed," are dead-living saints. They have been crucified to the
world, to sin, and to their own life as well. But the Life of Christ is in them so
"when they fall on the sword (the Word of God in judgment), they shall not be
wounded" (Joel 2:8).

The Apostle Paul is a member of Joel's army.

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)

The material creation is not evil, it is "very good" according to the Lord's
own Word. The sky, the earth, the waters, the air, the vegetation, the animals, the
people, and all other things are very good. They are all the human heart could desire.

An army of unclean, wicked spirits has invaded our (man's) world. Because of the
covetousness, lusts, and rebellion of their corrupt, inflamed personalities the wicked
spirits have perverted and destroyed the beautiful world God has given to us.

We humans are the original and rightful rulers and occupants of the creation. Not a
stick or stone of nature belongs to Satan or to any of his followers.

The almighty God has given to Christ and to those who meekly follow Him the creation as
an eternal inheritance. They shall inherit "all things."

Let each of us who is spiritually alive lay down his life, deferring his own pleasures,
until the redeeming Life in Christ flows through us and restores the Life of Christ to the
entire creation of God.